Top Seeds Advance to #HLWBB Semifinals

#HLWBB Quarterfinals Results -- March 11th
No. 4 Youngstown State 73, No. 5 Detroit 55
No. 3 Cleveland State 76, No. 6 UIC 70
No. 2 Wright State 95, No. 7 Oakland 60
No. 1 Green Bay 74, No. 8 Milwaukee 62

Arbanas, Schlegel Leads Penguins Past Detroit, 73-55, Advance to HL Semis-- Box Score
Youngstown, Ohio -- Nikki Arbanas and Heidi Schlegel each scored 22 points, and Latisha Walker posted a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Youngstown State women's basketball team to a 73-55 win over Detroit in the Horizon League Tournament Quarterfinals on Wednesday night at the Beeghly Center.

Arbanas went 7-of-12 from the floor, including five 3-pointers, while Schlegel made 9-of-10 free throw attempts and grabbed eight rebounds.

With the win, the Penguins improve to 21-9 overall and advance to the Horizon League Tournament Semifinals for the third straight year. Detroit's season comes to an end with an overall record of 12-18. Read more

Titans Fall In Horizon League Championship Quarterfinals-- Box Score
YOUNGSTOWN STATE, Ohio (3/11/2015) -- Three Titans scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the fifth-seeded University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team dropped a 73-55 road contest at fifth-seeded Youngstown State on Wednesday in the Horizon League Championship Quarterfinals.

Detroit finished the 2014-15 campaign at 12-18 overall and 7-9 in the Horizon League, where the Titans rose from being picked last in the preseason poll to capturing fifth place.

Redshirt sophomore Rosanna Reynolds led Detroit with 18 points and six assists. Freshman Darianne Seward tallied 17 points, five rebounds, a season-high five steals and three assists, while sophomore Haleigh Ristovski had 11 points and five boards. Read more

Vikings Advance To Horizon League Semifinals With 76-70 Victory Over UIC-- Box Score
CLEVELAND, Ohio – For the first time in five seasons the Cleveland State women's basketball team has advanced to the Horizon League Semifinals, clinching a spot with a 76-70 victory over sixth-seeded UIC Wednesday evening. The win improves CSU to 19-11 on the year, and puts the Vikings up against No. 2 Wright State in a semifinal contest on Friday, March 13.

Wednesday's quarterfinal victory over the Flames improves Cleveland State to 11-9 in Horizon League Tournament action under head coach Kate Peterson Abiad, while it also marks the fifth time that the Vikings have reached the 19-win mark during Peterson Abiad's tenure.

Cleveland State's offense was led by All-Horizon League selection Imani Gordon, who notched a season-high 27 points along with six rebounds, while Alexis Eckles and Brooke Smith each added 13 points. All-Horizon League player Cori Coleman tallied 12 points on the game, along with six assists. Read more

Flames End Season with Quarterfinal Loss at Cleveland State-- Box Score
CLEVELAND - The sixth-seeded UIC women's basketball team (16-14) enjoyed one of its best shooting performances of the season but ultimately dropped its Horizon League Tournament Quarterfinal matchup with No. 3 Cleveland State (19-11), 76-70, Wednesday night. The Flames made 51 percent of their field goals but the Vikings set UIC opponent season highs in points and field goal percentage (.529).

UIC shot over 50 percent for the fourth time this season and made 29 field goals, the highest total since 34 at Valparaiso (Jan. 10). The Flames were 4-of-9 from three-point range and held a 38-32 advantage in paint points.

The Flames owned a 31-29 advantage on the glass and outrebounded 26 of 30 opponents this season. UIC grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and concluded the season ranked third nationally with 17.4 offensive rebounds per contest. Read more

Women Roll Past Oakland in Horizon League Quarterfinals-- Box Score
The Wright State women's basketball team scorched the nets for 66 percent in the first half, including nine of 12 from three-point range, in jumping out to a 54-29 advantage en route to a 95-60 win over Oakland in the Horizon League Quarterfinals Wednesday night at WSU's Nutter Center.

The Golden Grizzlies led 7-4 early before the Raiders went on a 26-3 run over nearly an eight-minute span, a stretch that saw WSU hit six three-pointers, to go up 30-10 at the 9:45 mark of the first half.  Wright State connected on three more triples the remainder of the period, two by Breanna Stucke, and went into the break with a 54-29 lead.

WSU hit 21 of 32 shots in the opening 20 minutes for 66 percent overall and was nine of 12 from behind the arc while Oakland shot 35 percent altogether and was just three of 13 from three-point range. Read more

Wright State Flies Past Oakland in League Quarterfinal, 95-60-- Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio - Nola Anderson scored 12 points, while Olivia Nash added 11 as the Oakland women's basketball team fell to No. 2 seed Wright State, 95-60, in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament on Wednesday.

Anderson recorded her 19th double-figure point game of the season. Nash fell just one point shy of reaching 1,000 career points. Sinclair Russell grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and added eight points.

Oakland trailed 54-29 at halftime as Wright State shot 66 percent from the field, including 75 percent from behind the arc. Tay'ler Mingo, the league's player of the year, scored 16 of her game-high 23 in the opening period. Read more 

Kaili Lukan's 24 Points Pushes Green Bay into Tourney Semifinals-- Box Score
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Benefitting from a season-high 24 points from junior guard Kaili Lukan, the No. 1 seed Green Bay women’s basketball team survived its quarterfinal game against No. 8 seed Milwaukee, winning 74-62 on Wednesday night at the Kress Center to advance to the Horizon League Tournament semifinals.

Lukan played just 11 minutes in her last game but exploded for 24 points to keep Green Bay (26-4) perfect all-time in quarterfinal games. She finished one point shy of her career high 25 points, which also came against Milwaukee (10-20) last season.

The Phoenix will now face No. 4 seed Youngstown State in one semifinal game on Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Kress Center for a trip to the tournament championship game. No. 2 seed Wright State and No. 3 seed Cleveland State will face off in the other semifinal game at 5 p.m. at the Kress Center beforehand. Read more

Phoenix Hold Off Panthers Down The Stretch-- Box Score
MILWAUKEE - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team played the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay basket-for-basket in the second half, but could not overcome a double-figure halftime deficit in falling, 74-62, Wednesday night at the Kress Center.

The Panthers (10-20) hung around and never let the Phoenix (26-4) rest, but every time Milwaukee would trim the lead down to single-digits, Green Bay would respond to earn the victory in the quarterfinal round of the Horizon League Tournament.

"That's the mark of Green Bay, they are an amazing team," Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz said. "They are obviously the best team in our league with the way they finished out. And the mark of our team is that we don't quit and that we will fight to the finish no matter what. I couldn't be more proud of this group. I told them in the locker room that I wouldn't trade any single one of them for another player in the country. We changed the culture of Milwaukee basketball and I know as the years go on, we will be in more situations like this where we will be victorious." Read more